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AA pullout will leave Georgia city with just one airline

American Airlines says it will end all of its service to Georgia's Columbus Airport this summer. Once that happens, Columbus – about 100 miles southwest of Atlanta along Georgia's border with Alabama – will be

Currently, the airport has flights on the regional partners of both American and Delta. But, American says it plans to leave the airport this summer.

Once that happens, Columbus – about 100 miles southwest of Atlanta along Georgia's border with Alabama – will be left with just a single carrier. Depending on the season, Delta's Delta Connection regional affiliates fly four or five daily round-trip flights between Columbus and Delta's Atlanta hub, according to the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer.

American's American Eagle affiliate currently offers two daily round-trip flights between Columbus and AA's hub at Dallas/Fort Worth. The carrier operates the flights on 44-seat Embraer ERJ-145 regional jets.

The discontinuation of the service marks the latest chapter on an on-again, off-again relationship between AA and the Columbus airport. Columbus had been on AA's route map from 1989 through 1995. AA then resumed the service in July 2010.

"The loads were decent, but apparently the yield, or profit, per passenger was just not what they wanted it to be," he says to the newspaper. "I don't know what their magic number is, but they know what they're looking for."

Oropeza says he will continue trying to lure another airline to the city. He says efforts to convince US Airways to add flights to Charlotte have been put on hold now that US Airways is in the beginning stages of a merger with American.

"We'll just redouble our efforts," he says to the Ledger-Enquirer. "We're not going to say die. We're not going to go, my god, the world's coming to an end. We've been through this before. We'll just keep on plugging away."